Astro Blog

Source:    NASA RELEASE: 11-118 Excerpt: NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has discovered the total amount of atmosphere on Mars changes dramatically as the tilt of the planet's axis varies. This process can affect the stability of liquid water if it exists on the Martian surface and increase the frequency and severity of Martian dust storms. …a large, buried deposit of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, at the Red Planet's south pole … has a volume similar to Lake Superior's nearly 3,000 cubic miles. The deposit holds up to 80 percent as much carbon dioxide as today's Martian atmosphere.  …"When you include this buried deposit, Martian carbon dioxide right now is roughly half frozen and half in the atmosphere, but at other times it can be nearly all frozen or nearly all in the atmosphere," For more information about MRO, visit: www.nasa.gov/mro www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/apr/HQ_11-118_Mars_Atmosphere.html

Source:   NASA Excerpt:  ...NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has discovered the total amount of atmosphere on Mars changes dramatically as the tilt of the planet's axis varies. This process can affect the stability of liquid water if it exists on the Martian surface and increase the frequency and severity of Martian dust storms. Researchers using MRO's ground-penetrating radar identified a large, buried deposit of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, at the Red Planet's south pole. The scientists suspect that much of this carbon dioxide enters the planet's atmosphere and swells the atmosphere's mass when Mars' tilt increases. ...The deposit holds up to 80 percent as much carbon dioxide as today's Martian atmosphere.... www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/apr/HQ_11-118_Mars_Atmosphere.html

Source:   Peter C. Thomas, Science Magazine   Earth's climate is buffered by massive oceans of liquid water and by gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2).... Mars has no oceans to buffer its temperatures, and the thin atmosphere (95% CO2) provides little thermal buffering.  ...early space probes explored whether large CO2-ice deposits might buffer the atmospheric pressure of Mars (1).  ...Phillips et al. (2) report the discovery of thick deposits in the south polar region that are most likely composed of solid CO2 and comparable in mass to the present Mars atmosphere. www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6031/797.summary

Source:  Marcus Hirm, NASA Excerpt: I for one am very pleased that the astronauts on the ISS (heroes in my humble opinion) keep sharing images of our beautiful planet with the rest of us. The privilege of viewing earth from space is only granted to a very select few. However, thanks to these images, it is almost like we get to go up there ourselves.... triggerpit.com/2011/04/21/beautiful-planet-oh-i-so-want-to-go-to-the-iss/

Source:   NASA Excerpt:  …To celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's deployment into space, astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., pointed Hubble's eye at an especially photogenic pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 273. The larger of the spiral galaxies, known as UGC 1810, has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813.... www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hubble-rose.html

Source:   NASA Scientists     Excerpt: Planetary scientists once thought Earth was an oasis in a dry solar system, as early missions to our neighbors revealed desert-like conditions on the Moon, Mars, and Mercury. ...Missions in recent years have overturned our view of a dry solar system, returning mounting evidence of ample water from a vast array of locations. …Jupiter's moon Europa  …Comets ... Mars  ...The Moon, ... Even Mercury.... solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss/display.cfm